Russian bots with a Kremlin disinformation network published 120,000 fake anti-Ukraine quotes falsely attributed to celebrities, including Jennifer Aniston and Scarlett Johansson, in one day, the independent Russian media outlet Agentsvo reported June 15.
Quotes appeared over celebrity photos, displaying messages calling to end aid to Ukraine and describing European collapse.
The images were published between June 14-15 by the Kremlin disinformation network Dvoynyk, a representative of the Bot Blocker project told Agentsvo. The fake quotes have since garnered over 500,000 views.
Do… Do people care what the REAL scarlet Johansson, Jennifer Aniston or Elton John have to say about Ukraine defending itself and it’s people against a fascist invasion?
I mean, I find their stuff entertaining, sure, but like… Why would I listen to their tactical analysis in the first place?
Of course people are swayed by celebrities. I’m surprised you even have to ask that. Celebrity worship is huge in Western culture. Taylor Swift told her fans to register to vote and thousands did just because she said so.
Literally the perfect person for Russia to target
I think they already did. There were rumors she would support Biden and I thought “will she get Kremlin shills attacking her on social media?” Over the next few weeks there was a bunch of noise about her private jet.
It’s the same thing as putting typos in phishing emails so you only target stupid people.
Yes!
As stupid as it sounds people trust them more than the experts. We live in the post truth times anyway.
“This is terrible, can someone please find Ja Rule ?”
Pray for Omarion
I mean, Jennifer Anniston and Taylor Swift DID lead the armies in the congo jungles against the contra groups of the 1980s…They have military experience!!!
Yes they do. A few weeks ago everyone on here cared what George clooneys wife was saying about Israel.
You mean Amal Clooney, the international Human Rights Lawyer? The adjunct professor of law at Columbia University? Advisor to the International Criminal Court? That Amal Clooney?
The fact that she’s married to a celebrity is the least interesting thing about her in the context of Israel and the ICC.
And I will once again say that the actor should be referred to as “Amal Clooney’s husband” rather than the other way around.
My favourite description under a picture of the two in a (German) newspaper read (paraphrased): Civil right’s attorney Amal Clooney and her husband, an actor.
*Coffee Salesman
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Through the use of satellite imagery, SSP provides an early warning system to deter mass atrocities in a given situation by focusing world attention and generating rapid responses to human rights and human security concerns taking place in that situation.
…
SSP was the first to provide evidence consistent with the razing of the villages of Maker Abior, Todach, and Tajalei in the Abyei region of Sudan, and the project has discovered eight alleged mass graves in South Kordofan, Sudan.
Did you think we wouldn’t look at your link or do you think trying to get attention and a rapid response to atrocities is a bad thing?
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Honestly I’ll get down voted but sure.
Nobody knew who she was before.
Plenty of people knew who she was before. You didn’t, because you don’t pay attention to international human rights struggles.
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These damn bots are out of control lol
“I’ve met Putin, what a guy, some say he’s the second-best guy. I don’t know, what I do know is I am the best guy. People say Mr. President you’re the best guy, no guys better just the best of the best they say. I told Poots, that’s what I call him Poots it’s like a pet name, he calls me cyka, which means friend in Russian because we are best friends some say the only true friends because we are such good friends. Anyway, he gets a bad rap poots, he just wants to stop the nazis and help Russians stuck in Ukraine by the criminal Biden crime family. Crooked Hillary won’t let Russia grow, they need to grow. Nazis, Hillarys, maybe even a few Obamas that’s Ukraine. Obama is trying to stop Russia, I said you can’t do that, they can’t do that. Let’s help Poots stop the crooked Clintons and bring back Taco Tuesdays, you remember Taco Tuesdays? On Tuesdays, before Obama outlawed it we used to have tacos. I had big Macs because I am not Mexican, not a fan of beans. Putin says nazis took his beans to Ukraine, I don’t know…maybe, some say it’s true. Smart people say it, they say Mr. President we need to leave Ukraine and let Russia have it so they can grow and stop Hillary from sending Hunter over there to steal their beans.” - Donald Trump
Fake. Too coherent.
Lol that’s how you know it’s bots
It always comes down to the beans.
And this dude is trending to be president again. The AI can’t take over fast enough.
I mean you SAY that, but…AI has ruined pizza toppings in google searches. I mean really, WHO would order a pizza with glue, or pineapple???
These people injected bleach and drink raw milk during a bird flu outbreak in cows. They’d probably love how stringy glue pizza is.
Lemmy.ml moment.
Any hope of civility and partisanship ended when social media received widespread appeal.
No, it ended when attention optimization and monetization became the objective.
If social media was all “dumb” it would be totally different, though I suppose keeping third party monetization out is always difficult.
Bro the fediverse is one of the worst platforms when it comes to information warfare. One of the major instances is pretty clearly a training ground for Russian propagandists before they get promoted to Facebook or reddit.
But it doesn’t work as well because you can block entire instances. These people self identify by choosing the instance so it’s easy to just block all posts and comments, even those from people you’ve never seen before.
Blocking an instance only removes your individual ability to interact with an instance. It doesn’t have any impact on the information warfare value of the instance. If anything, it only amplifies it by self-sequestration of opposing voices.
It’s not my responsibility to fix everyone in the world. It’s good that these people sequester themselves. They can yell at each other.
Lemmy has good tools for blocking bad users and communities / instances. That’s sufficient for now. Better moderation will help too.
I’m just a shitty software engineer but I’ve always dreamed up a social media network — perhaps opensource/non-profit — that promoted in good faith the best of humanity… I think there are methods that this could be achieved and I wish someone like Wikipedia or Mozilla would pursue in earnest. I’ve been part of the Jimmy Wales Wiki Social discord but I’m not yet sure if they’re on the right track.
I dislike Ukrainians. -real Tom Cruise
To be fair, it’s never been proven that the real Tom Cruise isn’t just a russian internet bot.
You know, you have a point
I thought he was a bot for Scientology? Is there a connection to Scientology and Moscow?
I don’t understand the concept of a “real” Tom Cruise.
Is this like a “real” Bugs Bunny?
First they came for weird al and I was silent
Watch as they desperately grasp for straws.
They know they’re teetering so hard
I’m surprised they didn’t use deepfakes.
